Atlanta sports scene losing signature stadiums

Nov. 11, 2013
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Walkers pass along an area where a 42,000-seat, $672 stadium stadium will be built for the Atlanta Braves, who announced Monday they are leaving downtown and Turner Field in 2017. Atlanta's mayor said the city wasn't willing to match an offer from suburban Cobb County worth $450 million in taxpayer funding. / David Goldman, AP

by Ray Glier, Special for USA TODAY Sports

by Ray Glier, Special for USA TODAY Sports

ATLANTA -- The ink is just dry on plans for the Atlanta Falcons' $1 billion stadium, which is scheduled to open for the 2017 NFL season. It will be a lavish attraction for downtown, with a retractable roof and amenities galore for fans and the team. State and local politicians promised at least $250 million for construction costs from hotel/motel tax receipts, a figure that will likely rise.

Did the city back the wrong team?

The Atlanta Braves, who play 81 home games compared to the Falcons' eight, also were looking for public money to stay in Turner Field, which, like the Falcons' Georgia Dome that opened in 1992, is hardly antiquated. The Ted, nicknamed for communications mogul Ted Turner, opened in 1997. But the area surrounding that stadium was in need of redevelopment, and the ballpark needed repairs. The Braves asked for considerable help from the city, and did not get it -- leading to the unthinkable Monday morning.

They issued their walking papers.

The team announced when its 20-year lease expires in 2016 it will move to a $672 million stadium in Cobb County, 14 miles up I-75 from The Ted and closer to it season-ticket base, in time for the 2017 season. It will have an Atlanta address, and the team will remain the Atlanta Braves, but they will not be Atlanta's Braves.

"The Falcons were not worth what we were giving them in hotel/motel tax because the number of games is so small," said Julian Bene, a board member for InvestAtlanta, the economic development arm of Atlanta, who voted against giving the Falcons' public money.

"Now you are talking about the Braves, who play eight times as many games as the Falcons, and you are talking about a little more jobs' impact from that particular team. ... It's pretty shocking that we funded the wrong stadium."

Cobb County had already snatched the Atlanta Opera and the Atlanta Ballet in the last several years, and it set its sights on the Braves.

The franchise moved to Atlanta from Milwaukee in 1966, played in Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium through the 1996 season, then moved across the street to Turner Field. That was originally the 85,000-seat Centennial Olympic Stadium for the 1996 Olympics, paid for by private funds ($207 million), then downsized for baseball field seating of 49,743.

The area around Turner Field was never revitalized, as some promised would happen. There were rows of townhomes built two blocks away. The stadium authority tried to put a miniature golf course across Hank Aaron Drive, but it turned out to be a colossal waste of money. The area around the stadium was mostly parking lots and some rundown buildings, with a facility for cancer hospice care tucked in behind the park.

Cobb County is a robust area for the Tea Party, the grassroots push for reeling in government spending. Asked if he were worried about an assault from a formidable group like that, Cobb Commission chairman Tim Lee said, "I consider the Tea Party a good friend of mine. I believe they will find this is a win-win for everyone involved."

Yet Cobb County schools are facing a $62 million-$65 million budget shortfall, so there will likely be a fight from others beside the Tea Party.

The Braves said Monday they had invested nearly $125 million in Turner Field since 1997, but that it needed $150 million more in repairs. The team also bemoaned traffic issues and the lack of mass transit to the facility, which is owned by the city of Atlanta and the Atlanta-Fulton County Recreation Authority.

In July, the Braves started talking to Cobb County and got busy acquiring real estate at the vast intersection of Interstates 75 and 285, which is the beltway that circles Atlanta.

Lee said there will be a formal vote by the board of commissioners Nov. 26. There is a Memorandum of Understanding between the county and the Braves and Lee expects a 5-0 vote to approve the project.

Atlanta Mayor Kazim Reed issued a statement Monday saying it was his understanding Cobb County made an offer of $450 million in public support.

"We are simply unwilling to match that with taxpayer dollars," Reed said.

The Braves are envisioning a 60-acre site full of retail and green space and a hotel, with the stadium as the centerpiece. While Cobb County will own the stadium, the Braves will likely control the revenue around the stadium.

"Think about what Wal-Mart does," said J.C. Bradbury, an economist at Kennesaw (Ga.) State University, which is 20 miles north of Atlanta.

"They just don't buy the area for their store. They buy huge chunks of land around it and then rent it out to other businesses. And that's how they make a good bit of their money. They have a central drawing card. ... Right now, the surrounding businesses around Turner Field are owned by other entities. The Braves don't have an incentive to make that nicer because they want people to come into their stadium and spend their money.

"This is a unique opportunity for the Braves," Bradbury said. "Imagine if the Chicago Cubs owned all the buildings around Wrigley Field."

Turner Field is suddenly disposal real estate, just as the Georgia Dome. Neither building is falling down, but they are out-dated in terms of generating revenue for the ballclubs.

"Everyone knew the Braves' contract was up for negotiation and everyone said if we do this for the Falcons, are the Braves going to expect something," Bene said of an InvestAtlanta board meeting in the spring. "There was laughter and people changed the subject."

Bene said several developers came back with plans for redevelopment, but "the Braves obviously had other ideas."